All anybody seems to want to talk about with regards to Avengers: Infinity War is which characters are going to die. But I say: why does anybody have to die? Why does predictable death equal stakes in movies and TV shows? Why can’t moviemakers up the stakes some other way than killing a beloved character?

Death in comics is pretty much dead. It doesn’t matter anymore. Popular characters return after a couple of years with big fanfare, and obscure characters are brought back just as frequently, with little to no warning or notice. Likewise, having a major character die in the next Big Event is equally overused at this point. It’s become like checking a box on your Big Event list.

So why do we want to transfer that feeling over to the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Why do we need a tragic death? Will anybody actually be sad at the death? Will it be anything other than shock value?

Why is death the be-all and end-all of raising the stakes in a movie? And why is everybody so eager for one of the Avengers to die in a movie?

I don’t think any of the main characters should die. I will be perfectly entertained if everybody survives and gets to retire to nice lives, with the possibility of returning in future movies. Let’s have some fun with this stuff, eh?

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